The whale, which is the seventh whale in that area, was reported to be alive and thrashing about in the shallow water. UK Coastguard has alerted Happisburgh and Mundesley Coastguard Rescue Teams who are currently on the shoreline keeping a watchful eye over the position of whale. British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the Zoological Society of London, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency s Receiver of Wreck and the local council have also been informed.

UK Coastguard Mike Puplett said: We are advising people to keep at a safe distance from the whale, so we do not cause any further distress to it. We are doing all we can to assist the local authorities and allow those with rescue experience to do their work. visible_url} 8 All rights reserved 2016 Johnston Publishing Ltd. This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation’s Editors’ Code of Practice.

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Another whale may be in trouble in shallow waters off the British coast, rescuers have said. The latest report comes after a bull died at Hunstanton, Norfolk, on Thursday. This was the 30th sperm whale death in the North Sea this year.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said on Tuesday that it was investigating the latest sighting off north Norfolk. A spokeswoman said the sighting had been referred to them but there were no further details on precise location or species. Last week’s whale death followed the discovery of four dead whales washed up on the Lincolnshire coast and another at Hunstanton last month.

Others have been found in France, the Netherlands and Germany. The Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, which examines all whale, dolphin and porpoise strandings in the UK, is working to establish why the whales came ashore and how they died. This could help establish what the whales, thought to have come from the same bachelor pod normally living off the west coast of Norway, were doing in the North Sea.

One theory is that the male whales could have taken a wrong turn while heading south to find females or been lured by food. Stephen Marsh, operations manager at the BDMLR, said: “At the moment the report from the coastguard is that the whale is still free-swimming. “Because we’re come up to spring tide, the waters may be a bit deeper but that can be a double-edged sword because you get very high high tides and very low low tides. “If it does strand the story will be very similar to what we’ve had recently – the whale will have very little chance of relaunching and, if it does, its chances of survival will be very low.” A member of the Mundesley Coastguard Rescue Team contacted the UK Coastguard just after 10am this morning to report the whale was 300 to 400 yards off shore. A spokesman said: “The whale, which is the seventh whale in that area, was reported to be alive and thrashing about in the shallow water.” Mike Puplett, of the UK Coastguard, said: “We are advising people to keep at a safe distance from the whale, so we do not cause any further distress to it. “We are doing all we can to assist the authorities and allow those with rescue experience to do their work.” The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said later that the operation was being stood down as there had been no sightings of the whale for 90 minutes.

Keith Griffin, station officer for the Happisburgh and Mundesley Coastguard Team, said: “We’ve carried out an extensive search and are confident that if the whale was in that search area, we’d have found it. “Low tide has now passed so with a bit of luck it will return to deeper waters and stand a chance of survival.” The next low tide, when the whale is most likely to become stranded, is expected at about 2am on Wednesday.

Autumn saw three bellringing outings….enjoyable to see the various parts of Suffolk and Norfolk. They take in some of the most scenic towns and villages and of course the churches, mediaeval in age, are usually in the most attractive locations. Our Pettistree outing went to Clare, Cavendish, Long Melford and Lavenham.

This is Long Melford….so named because it has the longest main street, and village green… We ended up at Lavenham, one if the most famous of the wool churches, and with a lovely ring of eight bells. The lead on the roof has recently been stolen here…part of a spate of thefts carried out at night time.

Police feel that the lead is shipped abroad for sale, as it would be difficult to sell in this country. The lead has to be replaced if the roof is not to leak…fortunately the money seems to have been raised here… Iconic view of Cavendish, where we had lunch at the nearby pub, The Six Bells…

New landlords and an excellent spread…this was the ploughmans lunch… Later, another outing with the St Mary-le-Tower ringers to Norfolk…this is Yarmouth Minster…we also went to Happisburgh, Aylsham, Felmingham and Marsham. Truly scary access to the tower at Yarmouth, along a narrow passage way high above the church floor..

Then, this past weekend, a Hollesley outing to Higham, Nayland, Bures, Polstead and Kersey. This is the farmers market at Nayland, held in the church hall… Bures, with its anticlockwise eight..some good ringing here and everyone seemed to cope…

The pretty church at Polstead, with its beautiful views across the valley..

Produce for sale in the church porch….

And the last stop, the beauty spot of Kersey, with its water splash in the middle of the village.